A Drop in the Ocean
by carpe bagel
Summary: In which Ichigo works in a sandwich shop and Rukia gets caught in the rain. AU. Ichiruki. Oneshot.


Rukia Kuchiki and her brother, Byakuya, had been driving for what seemed like an eternity before they happened to drive right into a torrential downpour. Rukia, being the darling little sister she was, decided to inform Byakuya of their current situation.

"Brother?" she asked. She waited a moment before hearing a small "hm" from her brother. "You do know we're in a storm, right?"

Her brother's grip on the steering wheel got tighter. "I'm aware, Rukia," he said, his voice icy as ever. "I'm aware."

There was a pause in the conversation. "So what do you suppose we do, Brother?"

"I'm thinking, Rukia."

She looked out of the window only to find that there wasn't much to see. What had been a sunny sky just a few miles ago turned into a flock of angry-looking clouds pouring all of their contents onto the highway they were driving on. Rukia couldn't see anything more than 10 feet away, but she could see several cars' brake lights flashing in the distance. She looked at the speedometer and noticed that they were only going 3 miles per hour.

Suddenly, Rukia saw something flash in the distance. She squinted until she could make out what the sign said – _Urahara's Sandwich Shop, Open 24 Hours_. Her eyebrows rose ever so slightly. "Brother, there's a sandwich shop just past this exit. Should we wait out the storm there?"

Byakuya turned and looked at her as if she were some sort of child prodigy. He nodded his head in agreement before saying, "We should."

Ten minutes later, Byakuya pulled his car into the Shop's parking lot. He took the key out of the ignition, and placed a careful hand on the door handle. He glanced towards Rukia and cocked his eyebrow. "You ready?" he asked, apprehension in his voice.

Rukia was one step ahead of him. "Go, go, go!" she yelled, and she sprinted from the car to the doorway.

The distance was only about ten feet, but in the time it took her to get from the car to the restaurant she got soaked to the bone. Huffing, Rukia grasped the door and pulled as fast as she could. She was immediately greeted with warm air and the smell of fresh bread. She smiled, though her happiness didn't last long. No sooner than she stepped on the doormat did a voice interrupt her trance. "Damn, what happened to you?"

The voice was husky and deep, and seemed to belong to a cashier who was scowling behind the counter. His hair was bright orange, and his eyes were a deep brown. An apron was tied around the waistline of his dark blue jeans. Underneath the while apron, he was wearing a tight, black v-neck. He was handsome, and his nametag read "Ichigo."

A couple of seconds passed before Rukia realized that the teenager before her had asked her a question. "Oh, I'm –" she took a moment to collect herself before continuing. "It's raining, dumbass. My brother and I were driving and we had to get out of the rain, so we came here," she replied curtly.

"Hey, there's no need to be rude. I only asked you a question." His scowl deepened, and he continued in a deadpan. "Anyway, welcome to Urahara's Sandwich Shop, the greatest sandwich shop on the planet –"

"That's a little confident, huh?"

"Ma'am," the word sounded so foreign coming from his mouth, "If you don't shut up I'm gonna kick you out of the store, and then you'll be stuck in the rain."

"Fine," Rukia scoffed.

"As I was saying before I was so _rudely _interrupted, the menu's right behind me, so when you're ready just tell me what you'd like."

Rukia examined her options, and turned around to tell her brother what she thought. Or she would have, had her brother been in the store. She peaked out of the door window through the rain to find that her brother had fallen asleep in the car. She laughed. _I guess he was tired after all_.

She turned back to the teenager – Ichigo – and cleared her throat. "I'm ready to order," she said.

"How _wonderful_," Ichigo said, feigning enthusiasm. "What would you like?"

"I'd like a strawberry shake and two chocolate chip cookies."

He stared blankly at the girl in front of him. The silence between them grew, and Rukia became more frustrated. "I gave you my order, idiot."

"What's the magic word?"

"You're kidding, right?" she said, obviously irritated with the stupid cashier.

"Nope. You didn't say the magic word, so you're not getting your order."

"You're like what? Sixteen?"

"Seventeen, actually."

"We're not little kids, we're the same damn age. Stop being immature and give me my shake and cookies," she paused, "_please._"

Ichigo smirked. "Thanks, _ma'am_."

Ichigo disappeared into the kitchen, and Rukia could hear muffled yelling in the distance. She walked to a booth next to a window and sat down, drumming her fingers shortly thereafter. After a while, she got a bit bored. Since Byakuya didn't make it out of the care, she didn't really have anyone to talk to. Where did Ichigo go?

Rukia found out where he went after a couple of minutes. He emerged from the kitchen doors, cookies in one hand and strawberry shake in the other.

"Here's your food," he said as he placed her food on the table. "Enjoy."

Right as he was about to turn around, Rukia called after him. "Why don't you sit with me?" she asked.

"And leave the cashier unattended?" he countered. "No way."

"Ichigo," she started sweetly, "there's a rainstorm outside and I'm the only one in the shop. If you can't watch the counter from this booth, then maybe you deserve to be stolen from."

"Ouch, that was harsh."

"So will you sit with me or not?" she asked again, patience wearing thin.

Ichigo shrugged. "It's not like I have anything better to do." And with that, he took off his apron and sat in the booth across from Rukia. They began talking, about anything and everything for who knows how long. At one point, Rukia was so invested in their conversation that she forgot about her food. She was talking about some Chappy show or another, when suddenly Ichigo interrupted her.

"Hey, are you gonna eat that?" he said, gesturing vaguely to the cookie on a napkin.

"What? Ichigo, that's so rude," she said, "I was educating you on the wonderful world of Chappy and food is the only thing on your mind?"

He scoffed. "Well, it's not like Chappy is particularly interesting…" From under the table, Rukia kicked his shin. "What the hell?" he cried, leaning over to rub his shin.

"Chappy is incredibly interesting," Rukia stated. "The world in which Chappy lives is beautiful developed and incredibly detailed, not that you'd understand. You've got such a simple mind, it wouldn't even surprise me if – "

"Listen, Rukia, I made those cookies so if you're not gonna eat it, I will. I'm not going to let my food go to waste."

Rukia blinked. "Oh," she said, staring blankly at the cookie. "In that case, I'll just split it in half. Here you go." She handed him half of the cookie, and he accepted it readily.

They ate in silence. "These cookies are really good, Ichigo," she said.

"Thanks. It's my sister's recipe." Rukia nodded. Ichigo really didn't seem like the type to bake, let alone use his sister's recipe.

"So, Rukia, I was wondering if you'd – " And at that moment, Byakuya came through the door. Ichigo and Rukia looked at him. He wasn't wet, but he was obviously tired.

"That's my brother, Byakuya," Rukia whispered to Ichigo. "He fell asleep in the car."

"Rukia!" Byakuya said.

"Yes, brother?"

"The rain's let up. We're leaving." And with that, Byakuya went out the door.

Rukia nodded. She gathered her things, slowly, and Ichigo stood up. Right as she was about to turn away, Ichigo grabbed her wrist.

"I was going to ask you if I'd see you again," he said, not making eye contact. His cheeks were dusted pink, and he let go of her.

Rukia looked at him, staring intently for a couple of seconds. A grin broke out on her face, and she began laughing.

"What?" Ichigo asked, taken aback.

She stifled her laughter. "Of course you will, dummy," she said. "I left my number on the napkin."

With that, she turned around and walked straight out the door. Suddenly, Urahara appeared from seemingly nowhere. "You sure know how to pick 'em, Ichigo," he said, fan covering his smile.

"S-Shut up!" Ichigo said. It would be a while before he got back to work.

* * *

This is posted on AO3 as well under the pen name carpebagel. The majority of this was written over a year ago, and I finally got around to finishing the rest of it today... so, enjoy.

As always, reviews are appreciated. I don't own Bleach.


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